Event Title

Presenter Information

Mentor 1

Nathan Salowitz

Location

Union Wisconsin Room

Start Date

24-4-2015 2:30 PM

End Date

24-4-2015 3:45 PM

Description

Structural health monitoring systems, which use embedded sensors to detect damage and evaluate structural health in real time, have the potential to vastly improve the safety and performance of engineered systems. Acoustic ultrasonic based structural health monitoring systems use piezoelectric sensors and actuators to generate and detect waves that propagate through a structure to detect cracks and other potential flaws, thereby identifying them before a sudden catastrophic failure occurs. This interests fields ranging from civil and structural to aerospace engineering. Detecting damage in real time allows us to understand the capabilities of structures improving safety and allowing operation with reduced margins of safety, reducing structural weight and increasing performance. This field of research is relatively new and a multitude of challenges have been encountered. The complex signals are extremely hard to interpret, with many reflections, wave propagation modes that travel at different speeds, and EM cross talk between the actuation and data acquisition systems. This is aggravated by the fact these systems are typically actuated with high voltages (100 V) while the sensors produce signals in the 10s of millivolts. By looking to make this sensing more accurate through the understanding of the wave propagation, reduction of reflections, and overall operation of the system, improvements will create more of an in-depth understanding of these systems. The initial goal is to create a working control sample providing baseline data. Based on prior work, designing and assembling a control sample from which data can be acquired and signals can begin to be analyzed, is the current objective. Once there is a control sample, innovative approaches to develop a system that can better detect and potentially alert us to flaws in a structure. By the end of this semester, testing of a control sample that has been created and able to detect simulated damage would allow for the experimentation for innovative solutions to some of the mentioned problems. This would allow for obtain data that can be use for further experimentation to support any findings. If successful, application could include structures ranging from bridges and buildings, to spacecraft and airplanes. Some ideas for innovations include, methods to reduce internal wave reflections, and actuating different waveforms. Creating a system that could accurately detect flaws would make for a safer world.

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Structural health monitoring systems, which use embedded sensors to detect damage and evaluate structural health in real time, have the potential to vastly improve the safety and performance of engineered systems. Acoustic ultrasonic based structural health monitoring systems use piezoelectric sensors and actuators to generate and detect waves that propagate through a structure to detect cracks and other potential flaws, thereby identifying them before a sudden catastrophic failure occurs. This interests fields ranging from civil and structural to aerospace engineering. Detecting damage in real time allows us to understand the capabilities of structures improving safety and allowing operation with reduced margins of safety, reducing structural weight and increasing performance. This field of research is relatively new and a multitude of challenges have been encountered. The complex signals are extremely hard to interpret, with many reflections, wave propagation modes that travel at different speeds, and EM cross talk between the actuation and data acquisition systems. This is aggravated by the fact these systems are typically actuated with high voltages (100 V) while the sensors produce signals in the 10s of millivolts. By looking to make this sensing more accurate through the understanding of the wave propagation, reduction of reflections, and overall operation of the system, improvements will create more of an in-depth understanding of these systems. The initial goal is to create a working control sample providing baseline data. Based on prior work, designing and assembling a control sample from which data can be acquired and signals can begin to be analyzed, is the current objective. Once there is a control sample, innovative approaches to develop a system that can better detect and potentially alert us to flaws in a structure. By the end of this semester, testing of a control sample that has been created and able to detect simulated damage would allow for the experimentation for innovative solutions to some of the mentioned problems. This would allow for obtain data that can be use for further experimentation to support any findings. If successful, application could include structures ranging from bridges and buildings, to spacecraft and airplanes. Some ideas for innovations include, methods to reduce internal wave reflections, and actuating different waveforms. Creating a system that could accurately detect flaws would make for a safer world.